Googlers Quiz Obama at Town Hall

Googlers Quiz Obama at Town Hall


LAURA KURTZMAN | November 14, 2007 11:02 PM EST | AP


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"Democrats lose when they are attacked and because they don't know where they stand, they end up getting defensive instead of going on the offensive," Obama said.

When another employee asked how he could persuade his friends to vote for the 46-year-old Illinois senator, Obama held up the success of the young Internet search engine to allay concerns about his perceived lack of experience.

Obama said Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page showed what young people can do. They started Google in their 20s, while still attending graduate school at Stanford.

"Sergey and Larry didn't have a lot of experience starting a Fortune 100 company," Obama said. "I suppose when they came in and started talking to (Google's current general counsel) Dave Drummond about starting a company, he could have said, 'They don't know what they're doing.'"

The answer was a hit with Google's young employees, about 1,500 of whom packed a company cafeteria to hear Obama speak during a visit that has become a presidential right of passage.

The Google appearance was sandwiched between fundraisers in Marin County and at the Atherton home of former state Controller Steve Westly, who made a fortune at eBay Inc. Later Wednesday, Obama was to speak at a low-dollar fundraiser at San Francisco's Bill Graham Civic Auditorium.

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